Item #4907 Hollywood Babylon Flyer

Hollywood Babylon Flyer

1971. 8 ½ x 11 in. Offset print. Near fine condition. Item #4907

The Cockettes were a drag performance troupe that briefly coalesced in 1969 around the figure Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris II), who had moved to California with the beat generation writer Irving Rosenthal in 1969 to live in the Sutter Street commune. He is perhaps most well known as the subject of iconic photograph at the Pentagon protest, placing a flower in the muzzle of a soldier’s rifle. Influenced by the likes of The Living Theatre and Jack Smith, Hibiscus pioneered a new breed of hippie drag performance utilizing elaborate costumes, glitter, and a mix of decadent Orientalist fantasy and show tunes.

The Stooges’ sound was a primal mixture of blues and psychedelic rock highlighted by loud, charged guitars. The Stooges, the sixties rock band often credited with setting the stage for punk rock, were known for their intense, energized, and transgressive live performances.

On July 16, 1971, these two representatives of varying counterculture currents met at the Palladium in Hollywood at a transitional moment for the countercultural scene: hippy and proto-punk, love and aggression – two underground giants in a show that highlights the shifting and converging currents of early-70s alternative culture.

Sold